Treviso Geography & Climate

Treviso lies on the flat alluvial plain between the Venetian lagoon, about 30 km south, and the foothills of the Alps rising 20 km to the north. It is close to both and looks like neither.

The defining feature is groundwater. This part of the plain is a fascia delle risorgive, a resurgence belt where water that sank into gravel beds up near the mountains comes back to the surface. The Sile begins that way and is one of the longest spring-fed rivers in Europe, which gives it a steady flow and a nearly constant temperature year-round.

Inside the walls, the Botteniga arrives from the north and is split into the Cagnan canals, which run between and sometimes underneath the buildings before rejoining the Sile at the southern edge. The fish market sits on an island in one of them, put there so the water would carry the waste away.

North of the city the ground rises into the Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene -- steep, terraced and completely different country, twenty minutes away.

Summers (June-August) are hot and humid, regularly above 30°C, with little wind. The arcades and the canals make the centre more bearable than the plain around it, and evenings are when the city comes back outside.

Winters (December-February) are cold, damp and often foggy, with the Po valley fog sitting for days at a time. It rarely snows and never for long. This is radicchio season, which for a certain kind of visitor is reason enough.

Rainfall is spread through the year with peaks in spring and autumn, and it is heavier here than out on the open plain because the Alpine foothills lift the air as it arrives. Autumn storms can be substantial.

The Sile's spring-fed water stays close to the same temperature all year, which is why the wetlands west of the city hold birds through the winter when the surrounding country freezes.